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E.B.: All right. This is Liz Beckman here with N.K. on 3/10/2025 at the Brody Learning Commons for the First Generation/FLI College Student Oral History interviews. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: So to start us off, could you tell me where you were born and a little bit about your family? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Sure. So I was born in Dallas, Texas. I have two younger siblings and an older half-sister. Both of my parents are originally from Israel, but they moved to America in the '90s, so neither of them went to college. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And yeah, I'm the first – I'm the oldest technically in my house. My older sister is 12 years older than me, so the oldest of the people that have been living in my house for the past 12 years to go to college. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Great. And your siblings are – how much younger are they, the younger ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: ones? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: My younger sister is six years younger than me, and my younger brother is seven years younger than me. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Gotcha. So they've got a little time before they're probably maybe starting to think about what they want to do college-wise. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Great. So what do your parents do for a living? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: My mom is a personal trainer, and my dad runs his own business, connecting companies to do packaging. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: He works with the companies in China that manufacture the packaging, and then he helps connect different companies who have designs and just need the physical objects to put them in and put their products in. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Gotcha. Can you tell me a little bit more about their educations and just background in general? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Yeah. So both my parents finished high school, but in Israel there's a mandatory draft to the army. So following high school, both of them went into the army. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: My mom was an officer, so she was in the army for three years, and my dad was in the air force, also three years. And yeah, they're about two years apart in age, so he moved a little bit sooner after. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: He came to America because he had a friend working here who was just working on an ice cream truck and said like, "Come. Dallas is really cheap. Everything is cheap here. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Come work with me." And my dad came and he liked Dallas a lot, and he liked the people he met, so he decided to move to America. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: My mom had always wanted to move to America, I think like internationally, like every other country, and people in those countries have this dream of what America is. And she really wanted to move, and she happened to have a friend in Dallas, so she moved to Dallas after the army. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Gotcha. So did they meet – they met here? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Yeah, through mutual friends. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Oh, great. Mm-hmm. Nice. Mm-hmm. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: And so what was growing up in Dallas like? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: It's very suburban. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: I think back when I was younger there were times where I really didn't like it, but now I'm very reminiscent of it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Especially when you're really young and you can't drive yet, there's basically nothing to do, other than like hang out with your friends, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: in the summer just be outside by the pool, which is fun, don't get me wrong. Or it's spending money, like either you go to the mall or you go to Target or you go to a restaurant. And that's about it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Dallas is pretty flat; there's not like crazy nature. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: There isn't really like – there's small cities nearby, but major urban areas like Austin or Houston are about three to four hours away, driving. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: So growing up, it wasn't necessarily like - I enjoyed it, but it was very calm, like very much what you would call suburban. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: I didn't live like in the heart of the city of Dallas. But ever since being in college, I really do reflect on it and miss it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: I miss kind of just being able to drive everywhere and seeing open land around me. I don't know, I think Dallas was also a very new city. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Like my whole neighborhood was built in the '90s, everything north of me built even later than that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: So everything is very organized, clean, new infrastructure. A little bit almost of a shock when I came to Baltimore to see the contrast. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: But I really love Dallas, and I think as much as I took it for granted sometimes when I was younger, I do really appreciate going up there. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Do you go back regularly for breaks and things? Like that sort ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: of thing. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Yeah, all the time. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Also I would say some of my closest friends in my life right now are all my friends from high school in Dallas. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: So every time I go back, like just going back, going to their houses, doing random crafts and fun things and driving around with them, going to different coffee shops, like, it's fun. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Nice. So that kind of leads pretty well into what was your high school experience ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: like? What kinds of things did you do? What did you enjoy? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Yeah. So I went to a very small private high school. It was a Jewish school, the only Jewish high school in Dallas. So there was about 25 people per grade maximum, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: so very, very small high school. But in a way everybody is very tightknit. I'm very invested in – I know mostly what's going on in everyone's lives now, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: and I got very close with the people in my grade, like boys and girls. And yeah, like – what was the other part of the question? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: What were your favorite classes? What kinds of extracurriculars did you do? Things like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: So it was a dual curriculum, so in the morning was secular studies. And I'd say my favorite class that I probably took within that was English my sophomore year, because it was just with a specific teacher who I really connected to. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And then AP Calc BC really was the first class that like – I didn't really care about math; I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it before. I just was neutral. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: But I really, really enjoyed Calc. I think my favorite math class I've ever taken. And then in terms of like extracurriculars, I started a club back in high school for people interested in pre-medical activities and stuff. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: I invited a speaker to come. We wrote a children's book and published it during COVID. We had regular weekly meetings. I was also involved in a club called Students Against Terrorism, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: and I was president of it my senior year. And me and my co-president raised about $40,000.00 for Magen David Adom, which is kind of like the American Red Cross, but in Israel, so that the money would go towards like a new ambulance. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Wow. Sounds like you were pretty busy. [Laughs] Yeah, did you always sort of think that – like what got you interested in pre-med? Is that sort of the direction you're going as well? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: It's a good question. I think when I was younger I just thought it was really interesting. I don't know if it's just that it was always kind of like people talk about doctors in a really positive way, so then you're like, "Oh, I want to be a doctor." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And then in high school you really convince yourself, because you watch Grey's Anatomy and you're like – “that’s going to be me!” ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And then in my freshman year of college that image actually came crashing down a little bit because I was like, hold up, I'm now committing myself to over a ten-year-long journey for something I might hate and have actual no real experience with. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Also, being from a small high school, I didn't get exposure to a lot of different types of classes. I mentioned before it's a dual curriculum, but because of the limited amount of students, you physically just don't have enough resources to have as many class ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: opportunities as you want and people to fill them. So I didn't have any exposure to like engineering or coding or any kinds of those classes, or any like more in-depth humanities classes. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: So I was like maybe there are things that I could be really good at that I've never tried or even had the exposure to. So my freshman year I changed my major about four different times. I came in neuro, then I switched to computer science, then I switched to public health, and then I switched back to neuro. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: So yeah, kind of a journey. But ultimately I think that now I really connect with it, because I've looked at all these different jobs. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Because also like you think in your head – and cut me off if I'm taking too long in an answer. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Oh, not at ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: all. No, that's – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: When I'm looking for jobs, like part of me is like ugh. But like I want to make money. I'm thinking about I'm tired of like – I'm tired. Can I just make money now, please? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: But then I look at these jobs and I look at the job applications, and they're like "Why do you care about consulting?" And I was like, "I don't care about consulting." That makes me think I'm going to – that looks like soulless work and I think I would want to like die doing that every day for the rest of my life. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Same with like, business; same with all these different fields. Nothing really connected me to it. But I think specifically with healthcare, one, I think it's constantly evolving. Like there's always new things to be discovered. Like there's so much we don't know ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: and there's just so much to learn. And I think that having intellectual curiosity and being in a field that values that and is something that you pursue your whole life, will never get boring to me. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: But also just like I really enjoy being hands-on. I think I would be very unhappy sitting behind a desk a lot and never talking to people. I love talking to people. I love helping people. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And obviously there's all this stuff you can do that helps people, but I just figured like combining the two, I really think that that will lead to a career that can complement my life. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Can you tell me too, a little bit more about you mentioned the dual curriculum at your school, could you kind of expand on that a little ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: bit? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Sure, yeah. So I had a very long school day, from 8:00 in the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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morning until 5: 00 PM in the afternoon. So I would get to school, we'd have like a general studies class in the morning. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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morning until 5: So let's see, I'll take my junior year for example. I had AP Biology, then we would have, there were two prayer services during the day of school, because it was a Modern Orthodox school. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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morning until 5: So I don't know how much you know about Judaism, but essentially there's like a spectrum of basically observance, with the least technically observant being Reform or just a different interpretation, level of interpretation. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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morning until 5: Same with Conservative, and then there's Orthodox. My school's mission statement defined itself as Modern Orthodox, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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morning until 5: so basically an approach of embracing a lot of traditional approaches and interpretations of biblical texts and rabbinic literature. But also valuing integration into modern society and the secular world. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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morning until 5: So engaging with like science, medicine, humanities, whatever it is. Like not being isolationist in a way. So essentially, yeah, three prayer services is typically traditional in the Orthodox ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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community: one in the morning, one in the afternoon, one at night. So during the day we had one in the morning, one in the afternoon. So we had prayer for about an hour. Then in the morning I would have all Jewish classes. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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community: So an example would be, I would have Jewish thought and law, which would talk about Jewish thought and law, and then I had a following class that would be about like, it's called Tanakh, which is basically like the Bible, and then there's like prophets and writings that come after. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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community: And then there'd be another class called Jewish Philosophy. Then we'd have lunch. And then typically clubs would meet during lunch, just because there isn't enough time in the day to give it its own block. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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community: Then in the afternoon, we would have math, English, history/geography, whatever the year was. I'm trying to think if I'm forgetting something. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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community: Whatever the requirements in the state of Texas are to graduate high school, whatever those general curriculum requirements are. And then the day would pretty much end at 5, because each class was about 50 minutes. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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community: So yeah, definitely a long day. And then sports is also not included between 8 to 5, so I played volleyball and basketball, so that was always after school, four days a week. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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community: So yeah, I'd get home usually around 8 PM, maybe 10 if there was a game. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Wow. [Laughs] That is a packed schedule for sure. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Could you speak a little bit about your family's thoughts on education, generally, your parents and your siblings? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Yeah, it's a good question. So my dad I think is somebody that values education, because when he moved to America he never got a degree. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And he has told me many times throughout his life how he often looks at the success of his friends, and I think it causes like a very deep jealousy in him, because he thinks “look at these people that they have a degree, so suddenly their life can be easier. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: They have this whole world of jobs that are available to them. Meanwhile, I had to start something of my own, which succeeds and fails just according to me.” ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And obviously – not obviously, but it comes with ups and downs. And more recently especially I think it's been in a down, where he has not been as financially successful. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And I think because of that, there would never be ever a situation in which he would have been okay with me not attending college, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: and he very much makes it a point that we all need to attend college, just because that is the way the world works here in America. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And then as for my mom, her relationship between her and my dad is not so strong, and she's very financially dependent on him, and it's a bit of a toxic relationship. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Like if they're fighting, he'll withdraw money out of her bank account. Like let's say she's in the middle of grocery store, she can't pay for the groceries now, unless she puts it on her own credit card. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: He'll tell her to go do things and put it on the credit card, saying he'll pay it off, and then he won't, and then the credit card interest will accrue so severely that five years later she'll still be paying it off. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: So to me, throughout high school especially, she just told me like, "I don't ever want you to be in a situation which like if you're in a toxic marriage, that you don't have enough money to get yourself a proper lawyer and get a divorce and be comfortable after and be able to support yourself and your kids without another person. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And the only way to really guarantee that is to be educated and to have a job, like a well-paying job." And to not just have this mindset that like I'll just marry rich. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Which like it's fun to marry rich, and I think I would make a great Pilates mom, and there's nothing wrong with women that don't work. I really do like respect it. But it should always be a choice. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And I should always have the ability to choose to work if I need it. So that I would say is both my parents' approach to education and, yeah, they just look back – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: my mom really never considered college. Like a little bit before she moved to America she was considering being a flight attendant, but you don't really need a college degree to be a flight attendant. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: So I don't know, I guess it never really crossed her mind, and she never had like a specific ambition that pulled her towards school. But now she talks to me a lot about how she regrets not having a level of authority over her life by not getting a proper education. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: They don't really particularly care for prestige; my mom does, but my dad doesn't, and he thinks a little bit that the American college system is a bit overrated. Why is tuition so expensive? Why does it really matter whether or not you go to school here versus there? Does it really make that big of a difference? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: People can't get employed at either school sometimes. So I think sometimes he gets a little frustrated with the culture around it, but I think he ultimately still values college itself. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Thanks for sharing that. Yeah. And actually that reminds me, too, I don't know if you expanded much on why your mom decided to emigrate to the US. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: She just always, like she would hear about New York or watch about it in like TV shows, and I think she was very much like it – first of all, obviously it's romanticized, but she really like clung to that idea of it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: My mom had a bit of a rough childhood. Her biological mom left her with two of her siblings when she was five years old. She doesn't know anything about her mom. She stayed with her biological dad, who then remarried, so her stepmom kind of raised her. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And she doesn't really like to talk about it, and I try to ask, but essentially when she was 16 years old, there's this – I don't know if you know what a kibbutz is, but imagine just like a small, around 500-person community that is kind of socialist, as in, like you don't have to pay to live in the community. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Like your work is just – you're either a farmer in the community or a kitchen in the community. Basically very, very small-scale communism/socialism type thing. And they kind of exist throughout Israel. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Anyways, when she was 16 years old she ran away to go live on a kibbutz. And I think if she was in a loving, stable home situation she would not have run away from her parents at 16 years old. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And she doesn't really – I don't really have a relationship with my grandparents on my mom's side. They never call, they never really check in, they never come to visit America. And obviously it's expensive, like the flights are in the thousands of thousands of dollars. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: But even when I'm there, they don't really make a particular effort to reach out, especially now that I'm older and I can actually talk to them on the phone. So I don't really have a relationship with them. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: But I think part of it is – I also don't know that this is obvious, but it is very expensive to live in Israel. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Basically everyone is taxed around a little bit over 20-percent of their income, just because a lot of the money goes towards like defense. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: And also just in general, like certain real estate in certain areas is more expensive. Gas is very expensive because a lot of neighboring Arab countries won't sell oil and gas to Israel. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: So yeah, and then importing foreign stuff, also they put a lot of tax on it. So it's not necessarily – and also just like many other countries, like not necessarily Israel, but like a lot of – I wouldn't necessarily call them like second world, but if you think of like Greece, Italy, these are not places known for industry. So most people just like they get by, but they're not ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: rich. And I think my mom, a lot of other people in Israel, like the concept of coming to America and getting rich, and I think that is very common throughout the world, and like how people romanticize America. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: So combine just not really having such a great home life, and then seeing America on TV shows, and then just happening to know someone, she decided to move. And she loves America. She loves Dallas. Like she's happy with her friends and her life for the most part. But yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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E.B.: Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. So how did you decide to attend Hopkins? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Good ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: question. I actually didn't - looking back on it now, I didn't necessarily do the college search in the most intelligent way. Like I didn't consider whether or not I wanted a small school or a big school or if I wanted a city or a college town. I actually didn't take any of those considerations into mind. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: I was just like, "Oh, I'm pre- med. Hopkins is great for pre-med: apply.” Did that with like, [Unintelligible] apply to a few Ivies that look cool. And then I applied to like my state school, which is UT Austin. And for UT Austin I actually got very close to getting a full – like a paid merit scholarship. So in addition to just all my tuition and living expenses covered, I would've received like a $15,000.00 grant to start a research project of my own. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: I was a finalist, I went down to UT to interview, but ultimately I was waitlisted and then rejected. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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N.K.: Yeah, so I still was accepted into honors and stuff, but essentially once I got into Hopkins, the financial aid package then made it comparable, like almost identical in tuition and living expense to live either – like to either go to UT or go to Hopkins. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:45.340 - 00:19:13.460

N.K.: So ultimately when I was thinking about it, I love my friends from Dallas, but UT is very much Dallas 2.0, especially if I want to stay – if I want to maintain a close connection with the Jewish community, a lot of it is the same people. And to be in that world, you do a lot of what everyone else does; there isn't a lot of branching out. And I figured Austin's not going anywhere, Texas isn't going anywhere, but this offer from Hopkins may never come again. And if I hate it, that's fine, it's a short period of my life. I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:14.520 - 00:19:28.680

N.K.: have the rest of my life to move anywhere I want. And I think if I was ever unhappy at UT, I would always have a deep regret of, "I can't believe I turned down Hopkins. I can't believe I didn't go." I think it was not worth it to live with the level of regret like that in case. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:29.360 - 00:19:34.850

E.B.: Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. And I know, because UT, is it still the case that if you're within like the top percentage – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:34.850 - 00:19:40.340

N.K.: No ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:40.340 - 00:19:46.460

N.K.: it’s, top 5-percent of your class, yeah, and then valedictorian is automatically admitted obviously because they’re within the top 5- percent. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:46.460 - 00:19:46.720

E.B.: Gotcha. Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:47.000 - 00:19:50.720

E.B.: Yeah. One of my cousins from Houston went to UT. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:50.720 - 00:19:51.400

N.K.: Congratulations. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:51.400 - 00:19:58.160

E.B.: So I feel like, yeah, that's why. Yeah. She did exactly that. But cool. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:00.040 - 00:20:10.320

E.B.: So what was your family's reaction when you were accepted to Hopkins? And did they have opinions on sort of UT versus Hopkins? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:10.960 - 00:20:26.520

N.K.: So my mom was really happy, because she'd heard of Hopkins before, and she likes the prestige. I don't think I mentioned this, my older half-sister went to Stanford. So my mom just like, she eats that up, like if it's a top 10 school, like, "Oh my God, it is so good." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:26.520 - 00:20:36.840

N.K.: But my dad doesn't particularly care, and he doesn't even know what Hopkins was. He was just like, "Oh. Where is it? Where is it?" I was like, "Oh, it's in Baltimore." He's like, "Where is that?" It's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:36.980 - 00:20:56.160

N.K.: like "Near DC," and he's like, "Okay." And then he had more opinions kind of coming out after the fact. So there were times, like when I was a freshman and a sophomore, where he'd be like, "Oh, I wish you went to UT." When it came to traveling, like it is such a hassle to go back to Dallas. Just six hours, basically if you really think about it, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:56.160 - 00:21:07.040

N.K.: going to the airport, getting through security, potentially getting delayed, then a three-hour flight, getting out of the airport, driving home. And then if you think about the cost, the Uber to the airport alone sometimes, from here at Hopkins to BWI, can be up to $60.00. And not always are people flying at the same time as you. So now add that $60.00 on top of your price of your flight, which is always expensive. It just sucks. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:07.040 - 00:21:17.920

E.B.: Mm-hmm. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:17.920 - 00:21:19.400

E.B.: Because it’s always at the worst times, like the times ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:19.880 - 00:21:19.930

E.B.: it's most expensive. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:19.930 - 00:21:41.560

N.K.: It's always at the worst times. Luckily, I mean I mostly have non- stop flights to Dallas. Like Dallas is a big city. But man, it really adds up. And there have been times when my family wants to come visit me, but they just can't justify spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars over a couple-day trip to come see me. So in that sense, I think it would have been a lot easier if I went to UT. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:41.560 - 00:22:09.260

N.K.: Also, my dad sold my car because it wouldn't have made sense to drive it 25 hours here, to just leave it in Dallas most of the year and not use it. But I will say it is very difficult not to have a car within Baltimore and then also back at home. So sometimes like my dad and I will commiserate about that. But for the most part I do think my parents are happy with me, and I think my dad is pretty proud that I'm finishing college earlier than the typical timeline. So yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:09.260 - 00:22:09.480

E.B.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:11.840 - 00:22:25.620

E.B.: Could you describe the first few weeks of the undergraduate experience? Kind of your early impressions of Baltimore, the transition from Dallas to – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:25.620 - 00:22:26.480

N.K.: You're not going to like my answer. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:26.660 - 00:22:28.430

E.B.: You kind of hinted about this and kind of the change from suburbia, yeah. Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:28.430 - 00:22:30.200

N.K.: You're not ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:30.360 - 00:22:34.540

N.K.: going to like my answer, but my first few weeks here I was actually very unhappy. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:36.760 - 00:22:55.000

N.K.: I don't like to make generalizations about like, oh, everyone from the Northeast is cold. But first of all, like geographically speaking, it is predominantly people from the Northeast that go to this school, whether it's like New York, New Jersey, even like some Massachusetts, a lot of people here from the Northeast. And it's not even that they all just know each other and I couldn't like get in. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:55.000 - 00:23:02.900

N.K.: Most people don't know each other, but I felt that there was a level of superficiality and surface-level connection. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:03.220 - 00:23:16.840

N.K.: Like my first week here, my second week here, I would try talking to people, try to start a conversation, try to become friends. And I've been in different like new social environments before, and I'm able to meet people, and yet I thought like, "Oh my god, I can't connect with anyone here." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:16.840 - 00:23:22.680

N.K.: I can't get past like, "What's your major? Oh yeah? Where are you from? Oh yeah? That's so cool." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:23.060 - 00:23:46.080

N.K.: Like I couldn't get past it. And I felt a lot of internal pressure, especially seeing my friends back from home, they're now at UT. Some of them took gap years. I'm seeing them traveling, having fun, posting together, meeting new friends. And I just think to myself, "They are so much happier than I am." And I'm miserable, like this is so – they're all going to forget about me, like they're going to make new friends, etcetera. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:46.520 - 00:24:08.860

N.K.: As for Baltimore as a city, I was deeply unhappy because I don't have a car. And there are cool areas of Baltimore. I really like Fells Point, Inner Harbor, Fed Hill. But if you don't have a car – let's look at if you're on the Hopkins campus. To the east is Waverly. You're not walking there; you're just not. And if you want to walk to Hampden, great, enjoy walking a mile and a half for 50 minutes one way ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:09.740 - 00:24:31.140

N.K.: in a city where it's cold and rains a lot in the winter. And then south, again, like you're kind of hitting a not-great area with not a lot of stuff nearby. So just not having a lot of things like directly near campus, I felt very stuck. I felt like I'm either in my dorm or I'm on campus, and there isn't really a change of scenery from that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:32.560 - 00:25:00.280

N.K.: As with the classes themselves, of all the classes I've taken at Hopkins, my first semester was not particularly difficult. So academically it wasn't like "Oh my god, what a shock." But yeah, I think also like a lot of the crime I'm not used to, and a lot of things that people don't really notice, but like garbage on the streets, graffiti. That is just not stuff you see in Dallas. Even in Dallas, obviously there's neighborhoods that are not as safe as other neighborhoods, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:00.280 - 00:25:17.260

N.K.: but they're contained in a specific area. Here you're in like Roland Park, like Greenview, and it's beautiful and these houses are over millions of dollars, and you pass one street and suddenly it's like every store you look at is like "Free loans" like pawn stores, and it's like, what is this? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:17.260 - 00:25:45.680

N.K.: And obviously I'm not saying homeless people should stop existing; it's obviously a really sad situation. But also just like the condition of the homelessness and the crime here I think is because of just historically what has been the case of the city, the redlining, like all the segregation, like things that have not been repaired to this day, that Dallas, the area that I've lived in, has just never had a problem with. Again, most of it was literally fields at the time that segregation finally wasn't a law anymore. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:45.680 - 00:25:59.140

N.K.: So just seeing it was very shocking to me, and people didn't really understand what I was saying. Again, because I think most of the Northeast is very old and has a lot of these confusing infrastructures or stuff like that, but it was pretty jarring to me. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:59.720 - 00:26:07.940

E.B.: Did you feel like you learned about some of that Baltimore history sort of stuff on your own? Like things like the history of redlining and segregation ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:08.540 - 00:26:09.220

E.B.: and stuff. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:09.220 - 00:26:27.640

N.K.: Definitely something – like I've heard about redlining, just because that's a historical thing that they teach. Like it is like the case study when it comes to talking about segregation. And I knew it was in Baltimore. But I didn't really I think fully understand how prevalent it was to this day until I came here. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:27.640 - 00:26:51.220

N.K.: Same with like I currently work for the School of Nursing and I work as a research assistant, kind of like public health research, where we go to areas that have predominantly low-income individuals and offer hypertension screenings and flu vaccines, like a lot of health resources for free. And just talking with a lot of Baltimore residents, and a lot of these people have been here their entire lives, their parents have been here their entire lives, they've never left. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:51.220 - 00:27:07.880

N.K.: Maybe that's partially because it's really expensive to move, and a lot of other places are not as affordable. But I very much like being here, interacting with people and just driving throughout the city, like it is very obvious to me, yeah, like a lot of this historical influence. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:09.200 - 00:27:16.200

E.B.: Do you feel like that's something that a lot of students are aware of? Or do you feel like that's not, not as common? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:17.060 - 00:27:28.520

N.K.: I think they're aware of the crime and homelessness problem, but I don't think it runs deeper than that. They're just like, "Oh, Baltimore is a crappy city, like Detroit." And I'm like, "No, no, no, it's not." Detroit sucks. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:28.660 - 00:27:46.120

N.K.: Like there are certain cities that just suck, in my opinion, but they all have reasons that they suck. Detroit, that was an area that had like tons of factories and industrialization, and then when all of that basically got outsourced, all these people lost their jobs, all these places became ghost towns. Like there are reasons as to like – places don't just go bad for no reason. I think people like to be upset about ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:46.120 - 00:27:59.520

N.K.: the fact that this is not a pristine, beautiful place to live. No disrespect, again. But it doesn't necessarily run deeper than that. And to be fair, like to their point, I don't think it necessarily needs to. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:59.780 - 00:28:15.120

N.K.: There's not anything we can really do on a personal level as a student, who many of us might like be leaving Baltimore and might not live here again. So I don't necessarily say it's like such a misstep that nobody else thinks about it, but to me, it's very obvious, and I don't really think people talk about it that much. But yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:15.260 - 00:28:34.100

E.B.: Yeah. So have you met a lot of other first-gen students at Hopkins? Was that sort of like a network that you had of people? Or was that not really so much a part? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:34.100 - 00:28:44.680

N.K.: So I do think that that network totally exists. I personally, like, I know people that are FLI, but the people that I do know that are FLI are not super public about it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:44.680 - 00:29:04.120

N.K.: I would argue that I'm not necessarily super public, as in like I'm wearing sweatshirts that say I'm FLI Proud or anything. And I think honestly – I'm going to be completely honest with you, there is an impression that the people that are FLI students here are dumber than the rest of the school, that they are like affirmative action only, and that they would have never gotten in on their own merit. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:06.140 - 00:29:26.240

N.K.: So whether that contributes to people wanting to talk about it, or just in general, there is always going to be a negative association with just being not wealthy. And I don't mean it in like a classist way, where people are like, "You poor peasant, get away." But it's just like nobody wants to talk about their parents having financial difficulty, like it's an awkward conversation. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:27.120 - 00:29:36.110

N.K.: So even if it's just like you're first generation, but you're not limited income, or you're limited income, but your parents went to college, you don't really – like people don't talk about it. They don't make it a distinction. And unless you go to FLI events, there's just no way that you'd actively just flat go out looking for people like only because they're FLI, if that makes sense. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:36.110 - 00:29:45.100

E.B.: Mm-hmm. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:45.100 - 00:29:45.150

E.B.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:45.150 - 00:29:55.720

N.K.: So I've met people, obviously; I think that there are tons of them at this school. But I personally – those of my friends that are FLI, we don't really talk about it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:56.120 - 00:29:56.620

N.K.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:56.620 - 00:30:11.060

E.B.: Yeah. Cool. So now to sort of shift gears a little bit into your studies here. So you're doing neuroscience. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:11.060 - 00:30:34.340

E.B.: How did you choose? And you sort of – you talked about kind of switching several times and then coming back to it. But how did you choose to kind of ultimately come back to that? And what drew you to it? What do you feel is most valuable about it? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:34.340 - 00:31:04.320

N.K.: So I'd say two things. One, it's kind of like a process of elimination. I'll give you an example. There are certain majors here that I just find boring. So like you could say biology, or like molecular and cellular biology, which is a very popular major here, is like a very pre-med associated major. But in my opinion, it doesn't really have to do with like – it boils down science to a very obviously cellular nature, and it doesn't really talk about human anatomy or like – really I think it's very boring. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:04.340 - 00:31:30.240

N.K.: Like to me it's just like you're memorizing pathways and you're memorizing molecules. And obviously that's really important for research, but to me, it just didn't grab my attention. Chemistry I thought was just like – I don't like chemistry. I think it's difficult and I think it's great for people that want to go into a PhD, but I think it doesn't necessarily make sense for me personally to do as like something I want to spend all my time and interest in. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:31.120 - 00:31:54.700

N.K.: And then ultimately I was particularly – this is the second thing, I was just particularly drawn towards neuroscience. I thought all the classes that are offered here are extremely interesting. Like I took a class last semester, for example, called like Diseases and Disorders of the Nervous System, where they bring a different lecturer – like each lecture is a disease. So like multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, etcetera ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:55.240 - 00:32:24.680

N.K.: Now imagine you bring one of the top specialists in the entire country, maybe the world, who happens to work at like Hopkins, like med school or at the hospital. You bring somebody who's been in the field for over 20 years, and they come and they're your lecturer. So we had over 20 different lecturers come in to speak to us each about their respective fields. It's so interesting. They're all so nice, they all like connect – they all want to connect with you. They're like, "If you want research, reach out." And also they're just so knowledgeable. Like you can ask them anything, whether it's about the future, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:24.680 - 00:32:54.660

N.K.: what the field is currently doing, more detail about something that they presented, and they can just talk off the top of their heads, because they're literally experts in it. And I think that that is such a unique experience. I don't think that class exists anywhere else. And then as for like the brain and the science of the brain in general, I think it's a pretty perfect combination of like – obviously there's a level of human nature and behavior that is really linked to the study of the brain. So on the one hand, it's not purely just science and memorizing molecules and stuff, but at the same time it is the center of everything that makes the body work the way ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:57.200 - 00:33:12.480

N.K.: that it does. And I think understanding it really well basically helps you understand the rest of the body and how everything in your body kind of works. Because more or less it's all basically connected to your brain. So I really liked that, and I've really enjoyed the classes I've taken here, so that kind of drew me back. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:12.480 - 00:33:42.460

E.B.: Cool. Yeah, just that like having – like learning from the top experts in the field, that's so cool. And actually this sort of is related to that, and I think you've sort of already answered that by talking about that specific class. But other than that, have you had any memorable professors or any other classes that really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:42.460 - 00:33:44.460

E.B.: kind of stuck out to you? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:44.460 - 00:33:48.700

N.K.: So the professor of the core neuroscience class, which is called ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:48.700 - 00:34:12.440

Neuroscience: Cellular and Systems. It's a two-part class, so one in the fall, one in the spring, like parts one and two, were taught by Dr. Stewart Hendry, who was, he basically built the department to what it is now. And he's taught here I think at least over 20 years, maybe over 40; I don't exactly remember. He initially retired when his wife passed away, and didn't work for two years, but ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:12.440 - 00:34:42.320

Neuroscience: in that time he taught at a very small university, like near where his daughter was living. And he just realized that he really missed Hopkins students specifically, that we asked really interesting questions, that he enjoyed teaching, and he wanted to go back to it. So he basically came back to Hopkins, and is now like adjunct professor, and he really just teaches that class. And I personally built up a relationship with him over that year. I also took his course last semester; he offers an upper-level. And I think he is someone who ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:42.320 - 00:35:12.260

Neuroscience: is just a wealth of knowledge. He is witty, and some people don't necessarily love his personality. I think if they don't do well in the class, they tend to not like him. But I think he's a really good guy. I've talked to him a lot of times, just like one-on- one. I think he's a great person and I really value that I've been able to develop a relationship with him. And I think because the neuroscience department is kind of smaller than biology, for example, where it's very much like the neuroscience that is here is purely dedicated to the Homewood campus, versus ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:12.260 - 00:35:27.060

Neuroscience: biology, like you can have a lot of connections to the hospital or to the med school or different places. So I think having a small, but like very dedicated department has been really helpful to me, and has kind of served as like a really great way to make connections with different professors. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:27.060 - 00:35:48.400

E.B.: Nice. Shifting gears a little bit, could you talk about your living arrangements while you've been at school? Kind of what dorm life was like, and then if you've moved to an apartment off campus, what that's been like? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:48.400 - 00:36:17.680

N.K.: Yeah. So my freshman and sophomore year obviously we're required to live in the dorms. My freshman year I lived in Wolman, which is slightly off campus. But essentially you share a room with one other person, you have your own bathroom, and you have like a mini kitchenette. That was fine. I didn't hate it, but I like having my own room. I think obviously this is a problem at all colleges – not a problem, but there's limited space, and obviously it's supposed to serve as like a social conduit. But also you're constantly surrounded by people, sometimes it's nice to have some privacy. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:18.160 - 00:36:47.660

N.K.: Which I got my second year, as living in Scott-Bates Commons, previously Charles Commons. And I really liked my living situation there, because it was just with a close friend of mine and another friend of mine and then their friend. And it was just such a good room. It was such a great location. I loved Commons itself as a building, I loved the room situation. It was great. And then now this year, I'm living off campus in a house very close to campus, actually. And I like it. It's small, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:47.660 - 00:37:17.580

N.K.: but I like having a big kitchen. We have an oven and a gas stove. And you have a comfy living room that is decorated by all girls. I don't know, I like it. And luckily, I mean I'm not going to lie, finding housing off campus here is not so easy. This I think is where the Dallas in me comes, or maybe I'm a little stuck up, but I just have high expectations. Like what do you mean, more than half the apartments off campus don't have central air conditioning and more than, the majority of the houses? Luckily, we found a house that had central air conditioning. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:17.580 - 00:37:34.720

N.K.: And if you want to live in a place that has central air conditioning, well, guess what, your rent is probably going to be over $1,300.00, which is insane. The rent here should not be $1,300.00, because this property is not worth $1,300.00 and you're just gouging the price because you know that students need somewhere to live and that they don't have cars and they have to go to their classes. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:35.220 - 00:37:47.180

N.K.: So I was super frustrated by that. Obviously a little frustrating to know that part of it is the university doing it to students, because they own 9 East and they're starting to own more and more property around campus. So it's very frustrating to have to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:47.180 - 00:38:01.780

N.K.: fight that. Like why am I fighting to live somewhere decent. And then, yeah, let's say forget the central air conditioning. Go to something that's not $1,300.00 for an apartment, it has roaches, it has mice, it has mold, it has security concerns. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:02.900 - 00:38:16.580

N.K.: It's just so annoying. So I think my house was a gem. I don't know how we found it, but it's been good. It's a nice house, recently renovated, close to campus. So far it's been safe, but I get scared sometimes. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:17.020 - 00:38:19.580

N.K.: And I like the people I'm living with. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:20.040 - 00:38:21.580

E.B.: And that's right, because you're – [Unrelated third-party conversation] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:24.820 - 00:38:33.240

E.B.: All right, I think we are back in business. I think I just paused it and it's going again. Great. Sorry about that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:35.020 - 00:38:40.790

E.B.: So yeah, you're a junior and you're graduating early, so it was two years in the dorms and then one year off campus. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:40.790 - 00:38:46.560

N.K.: One year off ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:48.860 - 00:38:48.910

N.K.: campus. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:48.910 - 00:39:04.600

E.B.: Gotcha. And yeah, if you sort of could change the way that off campus housing works, what improvements do you think, yeah? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:04.720 - 00:39:08.340

N.K.: The changes I want are not financially feasible, but let's just hypothetically say they are. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:08.340 - 00:39:09.400

E.B.: Hypothetically. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:09.400 - 00:39:15.580

N.K.: When I went to go visit my friends at UT Austin, it's almost like the apartments are trying to out-compete the other. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:15.580 - 00:39:23.640

N.K.: It's like we have a pool, we have a rooftop pool, and we have a gym on like the second-to-top floor, and all the rooms are ridiculously nice. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:23.800 - 00:39:35.120

N.K.: Now obviously it is expensive, because – but not ridiculously expensive; like it makes sense for Austin. But because it's a big school, they have to compete to fill up their apartments, because there are so many students, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:35.700 - 00:39:42.580

N.K.: so it pushes them to be better. And the students obviously benefit because all these living options are all great and they're all near campus. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:42.580 - 00:39:52.760

N.K.: Then I look here. Most of these buildings are very old. And if you just look at like the geography of campus, if you're not in I guess the east of campus – like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:52.860 - 00:39:58.520

N.K.: north campus is pretty far. Some of those buildings are newer, but you are very separate from where most people and things are. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:59.180 - 00:40:05.680

N.K.: So if I had it my way, though it's not possible to do this while there are students here, I honestly think they need to knock down – like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:05.880 - 00:40:12.200

N.K.: there's a lot of buildings I think that take up useless space. Like next to the study there's a black building there, I don't know what that does. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:12.200 - 00:40:20.240

N.K.: And then there's a house further up on North Charles for the Department of Public Health Advising. Why are you on North Charles? Why are you not on the campus? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:20.580 - 00:40:23.020

N.K.: Why are you taking up this real estate that could be used for student housing? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:23.480 - 00:40:29.520

N.K.: In my opinion, I think it needs to be knocked down and built up in a really clean, new, sustainable way. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:30.240 - 00:40:39.260

N.K.: You could have great apartment complexes for an affordable price. Because I think, I know how much money is in the Hopkins endowment, and I know that they can afford it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:39.260 - 00:40:48.260

N.K.: And honestly, it doesn't make sense to me why they haven't done it yet, or why they didn't do it sooner. Because if you're looking at places like Stanford and Harvard, for example, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:48.700 - 00:40:53.820

N.K.: they invest so much money in the student experience, and part of that is living situation and housing. And I just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:55.780 - 00:41:03.480

N.K.: don't see – like Hopkins wants to be a top school and wants to be in the top five, but you're never going to get there if your architecture and everything surrounding your campus is antiquated ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:03.480 - 00:41:10.380

N.K.: and you don't invest or put any money into actually making the student living conditions not just like tolerable and not just okay, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:10.600 - 00:41:16.320

N.K.: but like actively great, to the point that people enjoy them and reflect positively on their experiences. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:16.980 - 00:41:21.260

N.K.: So I think a lot of the places just need to be renovated. I think they should just build up new complexes. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:21.760 - 00:41:25.900

N.K.: A lot of them are also very, like because they're old, they're small. All these buildings could be high rises. Like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:26.060 - 00:41:31.160

N.K.: they could go to like 10, 11 stories, and they can house so many people. I think safety is a really big concern. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:31.160 - 00:41:36.780

N.K.: I know somebody who, she got back from winter break, she lived on Calvert, so she isn't the closest to campus, but ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:37.440 - 00:41:40.620

N.K.: she lived on Calvert, she came back from winter break and she found a squatter sitting in her basement. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:41.220 - 00:41:44.740

N.K.: And she called the police and they said they couldn't do anything. So she couldn't even go into her own house, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:44.740 - 00:41:47.900

N.K.: because there was a homeless person in her basement that wouldn't leave. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:49.480 - 00:41:54.760

N.K.: Another example, a different friend I had living on Calvert in a house, because she couldn't afford to live in 9 ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:54.760 - 00:42:02.480

N.K.: East, had her car parked outside of her house, and it was carjacked. They like tried breaking in the car, basically almost had the car stolen. And ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:04.060 - 00:42:08.340

N.K.: I don't think that would happen if you lived in an apartment directly adjacent to campus. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:10.120 - 00:42:14.460

N.K.: So I think that there are a lot of things. Also it would be nice to have a more enjoyable quality of life. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:14.940 - 00:42:18.960

N.K.: It would be really cool to just have a rooftop that people could just go up and sit and socialize on. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:19.040 - 00:42:22.900

N.K.: But we don't have spaces like that, or open spaces for socialization next to campus. Like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:22.900 - 00:42:29.820

N.K.: they just honestly don't exist. So I really wish that it did, and I hope that now I know that they're buying more and more real estate, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:30.380 - 00:42:34.340

N.K.: maybe they could do that someday in the future. But until then, I guess it just is what it is. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:34.680 - 00:42:38.400

E.B.: Yeah. Thanks for sharing some of those thoughts. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:40.580 - 00:42:53.220

E.B.: So kind of shifting to extracurricular life here, were you in any clubs? Or have you been in clubs or participate in activities? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:54.920 - 00:43:02.240

E.B.: And are you still in them now? Did you sort of start in some and quit stuff or stick with stuff? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:02.240 - 00:43:08.620

N.K.: Yeah. So I'd say my biggest involvement at the moment, I'm an EMT for the Hopkins Emergency Response Organization, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:08.880 - 00:43:14.940

N.K.: which is just like the campus EMS unit. So every week I take about eight hours of call. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:15.420 - 00:43:21.660

N.K.: I got certified as an EMT over last winter break. Really great group of people, I honestly enjoy it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:21.780 - 00:43:26.120

N.K.: We do training every week. Of all my club commitments, it's probably the most serious. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:26.680 - 00:43:32.900

N.K.: Other than HERO, I'm also a member of Neurosci, I'm like the journal chair this year. That I've been doing since freshman year, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:33.580 - 00:43:36.600

N.K.: HERO since January 2024, so only about a year. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:38.380 - 00:43:40.820

N.K.: And then a couple things here and there that I've started and dropped. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:41.060 - 00:43:48.940

N.K.: So for example, I was a tutor for the Tutorial Project, but the times they specifically needed is right after school for children, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:49.100 - 00:43:52.580

N.K.: which is like 4 to 6 on either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:52.580 - 00:43:57.040

N.K.: and it just didn't really work so well with my schedule, so I couldn't really continue it. But I did that for a semester. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:58.220 - 00:44:05.080

N.K.: I'm really, really involved with Jewish life on campus. So I do a lot of stuff for the Hillel, which is, like the Center for Jewish Life. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:06.060 - 00:44:10.420

N.K.: I lead a learning fellowship there. I'm president of a club within there. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:12.040 - 00:44:19.340

N.K.: I have a couple jobs, like I'm the building monitor there once a week, I help supervise the cooking so that it meets kosher standards. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:20.880 - 00:44:26.540

N.K.: And yeah, and then I work a lot of random jobs. I did research last year at the Hospital for Neurosurgery, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:26.560 - 00:44:30.040

N.K.: but then this year I shifted and did more public health research for the School of Nursing. I'm trying ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:31.320 - 00:44:35.460

N.K.: to think if I missed anything else. But that's most of the stuff I do on campus. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:35.880 - 00:44:36.920

E.B.: Sounds like it keeps you pretty busy. [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:39.000 - 00:44:50.560

E.B.: With the EMT, how did you sort of get involved in that? And is that something you sort of think you want to keep doing in some capacity after graduation? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:51.780 - 00:44:59.100

N.K.: So my freshman year, due to my whole internal reflection crisis, I did not apply, just because I was like I don't even know if I'm going to be pre-med. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:00.100 - 00:45:03.480

N.K.: And I think I was just unhappy in general and I was kind of just adjusting to everything. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:03.480 - 00:45:08.360

N.K.: So I wasn't really the most involved my freshman year, like my freshman fall at least, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:08.900 - 00:45:11.220

N.K.: so I missed the opportunity to apply then. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:11.500 - 00:45:16.320

N.K.: But then after the summer and then beginning of sophomore year, it is just like everyone talks about HERO. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:16.720 - 00:45:21.020

N.K.: And I honestly thought it would be a really, really cool way to get exposure to clinical experience. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:21.460 - 00:45:23.600

N.K.: So I applied, and it's kind of a long process. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:23.760 - 00:45:31.080

N.K.: Like you have to have a group process where you first meet everyone, and then you have kind of an interactive test where they give you different scenarios ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:31.080 - 00:45:34.460

N.K.: and you have to talk through how you would do them or physically act them out. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:35.520 - 00:45:37.200

N.K.: Then I had a formal interview. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:37.540 - 00:45:39.200

N.K.: Also, before all that, there was a written application. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:39.900 - 00:45:43.300

N.K.: And then finally, like out of a pool of 200 people, 18 people got in. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:44.680 - 00:45:49.180

N.K.: And then, yeah, the EMT certification course normally would take six months, but they expedited it, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:49.220 - 00:45:51.740

N.K.: and we did it for almost 10 hours every day for three weeks. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:53.000 - 00:45:54.780

N.K.: So that was definitely an intense journey. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:54.920 - 00:45:57.540

N.K.: But you got really – like I got really close to the people in my class. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:57.540 - 00:46:00.960

N.K.: Great way to meet people. And honestly, really fun. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:01.280 - 00:46:04.560

N.K.: Some of the calls have been kind of crazy that I've done, but definitely a learning experience. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:05.320 - 00:46:12.300

N.K.: And in terms of if I would do it after, I mean, I think ideally I would, but financially, they just don't pay EMTs so well. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:12.920 - 00:46:19.240

N.K.: Like I was looking about potentially going to New York, and Uber Eats drivers make more money in a year than an EMT does. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:19.560 - 00:46:22.860

N.K.: And I was like, wow, that is terrible. [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:23.720 - 00:46:28.440

N.K.: I'm so sad. So like theoretically I would love to, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:28.560 - 00:46:32.200

N.K.: but I just don't think it's sustainable as like – I'm taking a gap year before medical school, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:32.340 - 00:46:34.140

N.K.: so I don't think it's sustainable for a gap year position. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:34.540 - 00:46:36.960

N.K.: But I don't think I'd necessarily let my license lapse, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:37.080 - 00:46:38.900

N.K.: so probably make sure I'm on top of that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:39.060 - 00:46:40.660

N.K.: But yeah, I've enjoyed it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:40.780 - 00:46:42.640

N.K.: I think it'd be fun to do on the side, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:42.740 - 00:46:44.100

N.K.: but full time, I don't know. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:44.220 - 00:46:48.080

E.B.: Yeah. How many hours do you spend doing it a week, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:48.220 - 00:46:48.720

E.B.: would you say? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:48.720 - 00:46:52.840

N.K.: I'd say probably around nine, because it's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:52.840 - 00:46:56.620

N.K.: one hour of training per week, just to like keep us fresh. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:57.020 - 00:46:58.360

N.K.: And then I take eight hours of shift. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:58.800 - 00:47:01.040

N.K.: So whether that's like an overnight shift, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:01.060 - 00:47:02.820

N.K.: so it's like 12 to 8 AM, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:03.940 - 00:47:04.860

N.K.: where basically we have a walkie, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:04.960 - 00:47:05.520

N.K.: we're in uniform, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:06.000 - 00:47:10.260

N.K.: and if somebody calls HERO then we just get up and go. Which has happened to me. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:10.300 - 00:47:11.930

N.K.: I once got two calls in one night, one at midnight ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:11.930 - 00:47:13.560

and one at 7: 30 ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:14.540 - 00:47:16.500

and one at 7: AM. And then a different night I got one at 3 ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:16.520 - 00:47:17.980

and one at 7: AM, so you can really get a call whenever. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:18.940 - 00:47:20.400

and one at 7: But yeah, about eight hours a week, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:20.400 - 00:47:23.080

and one at 7: and you switch your shifts by the week, depending on your ability. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:23.340 - 00:47:24.280

and one at 7: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:24.280 - 00:47:29.240

E.B.: What's been your sort of most memorable experience through HERO? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:30.440 - 00:47:31.410

N.K.: Memorable call or memorable experience? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:31.410 - 00:47:32.380

E.B.: [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:33.020 - 00:47:34.280

E.B.: Both. [Laughs] Either of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:34.420 - 00:47:34.470

E.B.: them. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:34.470 - 00:47:37.500

N.K.: Okay. Memorable social experience I'd say was probably just like the class ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:37.700 - 00:47:41.540

N.K.: we had to do clinical – like a certain number of shadowing hours, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:41.540 - 00:47:45.080

N.K.: essentially, in order to qualify to take the practical exam for the state. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:45.740 - 00:47:48.960

N.K.: And I remember I was sitting in a trailer with a paramedic ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:48.960 - 00:47:53.880

N.K.: and an EMT, and it was snowing, and they took me up to the helipad at the hospital. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:54.540 - 00:47:55.880

N.K.: That was a really fun day. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:57.700 - 00:48:02.020

N.K.: Most memorable call was my first call ever as an EMT on the unit, like a practicing EMT. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:02.680 - 00:48:08.340

N.K.: I got called to the Homewood Field for a man who was on heroin, complaining of altered mental status. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:08.780 - 00:48:09.360

N.K.: We got there and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:09.460 - 00:48:11.600

N.K.: he had a massive cut on his forehead, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:11.760 - 00:48:12.980

N.K.: he was complaining of being evicted, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:13.660 - 00:48:15.400

N.K.: he had clearly been using. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:17.540 - 00:48:20.560

N.K.: So I think you can prepare a lot in terms of like knowledge, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:20.820 - 00:48:24.940

N.K.: like you learn what you think are the right things to say, and you learn all the knowledge you need to know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:25.160 - 00:48:26.940

N.K.: like what essential information you need to get out. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:27.120 - 00:48:30.760

N.K.: But really that's when I learned you're never going to be fully prepared for anything. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:32.220 - 00:48:34.920

N.K.: Like nobody ever teaches you for these exact scenarios, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:35.020 - 00:48:36.720

N.K.: what to say, how to approach people, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:36.860 - 00:48:37.740

N.K.: every person is different. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:39.000 - 00:48:41.640

N.K.: Even just simple things. Like how do you ask someone if you can touch them? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:42.920 - 00:48:45.580

N.K.: You think it's such a simple thing, but like when you're in the moment ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:45.600 - 00:48:48.240

N.K.: you get kind of like nervous and you're afraid to mess up. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:48.860 - 00:48:51.080

N.K.: So that being my first call also is pretty memorable. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:51.380 - 00:48:53.220

N.K.: But yeah, we got him to the hospital. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:53.580 - 00:48:54.840

N.K.: But yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:54.840 - 00:48:55.540

E.B.: Wow. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:55.760 - 00:49:01.960

E.B.: That's, yeah, like you said, just you can sort of intellectually be like, "Oh yeah, this is what I should do," ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:02.080 - 00:49:07.260

E.B.: but until you actually do it, you know, you just don't know. [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:07.260 - 00:49:07.620

N.K.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:09.880 - 00:49:16.940

E.B.: So could you talk a little bit about how you spent your summers or your breaks, like, Spring Breaks, things like that, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:17.340 - 00:49:19.920

E.B.: winter breaks, while you've been here? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:19.920 - 00:49:20.820

N.K.: Sure. Like every break or just like multiple ones? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:20.820 - 00:49:22.560

E.B.: I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:22.860 - 00:49:26.700

E.B.: mean multiple ones, or like whatever is sort of the most, you know, most common ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:26.940 - 00:49:26.990

E.B.: ways. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:26.990 - 00:49:30.640

N.K.: So summers have always – like it's been very different, and I always try to fill it with stuff to do, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:30.640 - 00:49:31.390

N.K.: and I can kind of like give some examples. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:31.390 - 00:49:32.140

E.B.: Sure. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:32.660 - 00:49:35.300

N.K.: But in terms of winter break, I'm basically always just going home. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:36.300 - 00:49:39.420

N.K.: And then Spring Break last year, I got my wisdom teeth out, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:39.720 - 00:49:43.980

N.K.: and year before that, I went home and then I visited my friends at UT Austin over the weekend. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:45.140 - 00:49:48.520

N.K.: This Spring Break I'm going to Costa Rica, which I'm really excited about. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:48.780 - 00:49:56.940

N.K.: But in terms of my summers, the summer right after my freshman year, I – what did I do? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:57.400 - 00:50:01.740

N.K.: I was in Israel for a month, volunteering at a school for kids with special needs. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:01.740 - 00:50:04.640

N.K.: And then I came back here and I did research for a month. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:05.840 - 00:50:07.640

N.K.: Then I went home for a couple weeks then I came back. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:08.240 - 00:50:13.740

N.K.: And then last summer, because yeah, I've only had two summers while I've been a student here. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:14.120 - 00:50:18.380

N.K.: Last summer I went to Ethiopia, and I was working with a doctor there. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:18.580 - 00:50:21.900

N.K.: I helped manage his electronic health record systems, because he didn't really have one, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:22.300 - 00:50:27.780

N.K.: and just learning about what he does. He was a connection I made previously from a mutual acquaintance. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:28.480 - 00:50:35.000

N.K.: And before I went to Ethiopia, I went to Israel to volunteer and to see my family, because I hadn't seen them since the war started. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:35.840 - 00:50:41.620

N.K.: So that was just like about a week-and- a-half-long trip where I was going throughout Israel. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:42.040 - 00:50:46.040

N.K.: We went to the Gaza Envelope, which is the area of Israel directly surrounding the Gaza Strip. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:46.980 - 00:50:49.780

N.K.: And we saw like a lot of the sites that people were attacked. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:49.780 - 00:50:57.780

N.K.: And then we went to the hospital and we brought like goody bags, I guess, for people that were injured. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:58.840 - 00:51:08.140

N.K.: And then a lot of the agricultural developments that are in the south of Israel, a lot of like – what's it called – movement on the border has been stopped, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:08.380 - 00:51:13.060

N.K.: so people that were residents of Gaza that were working in Israel aren't coming in right now, like during the war. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:13.600 - 00:51:19.440

N.K.: Similarly, there's a lot of Thai nationals and people from India that have come to Israel to work, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:19.780 - 00:51:24.380

N.K.: but without them really coming in, because there's like restricted movement on the border and fewer airlines are flying into Israel, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:24.660 - 00:51:27.740

N.K.: a lot of these places have had reduced workloads and people there. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:28.080 - 00:51:32.060

N.K.: So we went and picked red peppers on a farm and we were just doing a lot of small projects like that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:32.640 - 00:51:34.340

N.K.: And then a couple of my friends did the program with me, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:34.480 - 00:51:38.540

N.K.: so we stayed after, I saw my family, and then we have a lot of friends that live in Israel, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:38.540 - 00:51:43.200

N.K.: so we were just with them, and kind of stuck together for about week and a half after that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:43.340 - 00:51:44.420

N.K.: So yeah, Israel, Ethiopia, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:44.780 - 00:51:49.260

N.K.: then I came home and I did Physics I and II over the summer through UT Austin online. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:50.220 - 00:51:51.100

N.K.: And then yeah, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:51.320 - 00:51:53.420

N.K.: and while I was doing that I was in Dallas, and then I came here. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:54.640 - 00:51:55.000

E.B.: Wow. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:55.100 - 00:51:56.580

E.B.: Sounds like, again, busy. [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:58.440 - 00:52:01.140

E.B.: Definitely keeping yourself occupied, for sure. Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:02.820 - 00:52:05.430

E.B.: And you said with Ethiopia, it was through an acquaintance was how you sort of got involved with that? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:05.430 - 00:52:08.040

N.K.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:08.040 - 00:52:15.640

N.K.: At my private high school, like the Jewish school, there's a guy who is very wealthy, but he just doesn't work anymore, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:15.800 - 00:52:21.260

N.K.: so he just runs a café in the school where he just bakes bread and cookies and just hangs out there during the day to sell it to students. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:21.780 - 00:52:24.200

N.K.: So while I was a student there – he's also my friend's uncle. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:24.740 - 00:52:28.880

N.K.: So while I was a student there, him and I kind of built a rapport together, like we're kind of buds. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:29.660 - 00:52:32.980

N.K.: My senior year, my principal asked me to go to this donor event at somebody's house, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:33.100 - 00:52:36.840

N.K.: they were fundraising for the school. And to just like show a good face for the students. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:38.340 - 00:52:43.960

N.K.: While I was there, this guy who does the baking and stuff saw me, and he's like, "I have the perfect person to introduce you to." He ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:44.160 - 00:52:45.540

N.K.: knew I was pre-med, he knew I was going to Hopkins. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:46.260 - 00:52:49.400

N.K.: So he introduced me to this guy named Dr. Hodes, like Rick Hodes. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:50.640 - 00:52:51.880

N.K.: I said, "Hi. How are you?" ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:52.980 - 00:52:54.260

N.K.: We kind of exchanged a little bit. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:54.380 - 00:52:56.900

N.K.: He went to Hopkins for his internal medicine residency, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:58.060 - 00:53:01.460

N.K.: and then he was talking to me and he was like, "Oh yeah, you should watch my movies." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:01.700 - 00:53:05.100

N.K.: And I just thought he was being kind of like pretentious, like saying he was impressive. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:05.100 - 00:53:06.980

N.K.: I was like, "Okay. Ha ha ha." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:07.340 - 00:53:12.540

N.K.: And then he took out his business card and wrote down the names of three movies that are all written about him. Like one on each [ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:13.040 - 00:53:14.640

N.K.: unintelligible], and I was like, "Oh, okay. Like you're ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:14.880 - 00:53:14.930

N.K.: legit." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:14.930 - 00:53:15.430

E.B.: [Laughs] He wasn't kidding. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:15.430 - 00:53:15.700

N.K.: No. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:16.820 - 00:53:17.720

N.K.: He's a crazy guy. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:17.820 - 00:53:21.520

N.K.: And the reason he was connected to my school in Dallas was because he is Jewish ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:22.540 - 00:53:29.060

N.K.: and there were two kids that he specifically wanted surgery for, but they would not be able to get it unless they were on insurance. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:29.580 - 00:53:32.020

N.K.: So he adopted them, got them the surgery. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:32.020 - 00:53:36.940

N.K.: The doctor that happened to operate on them was in Dallas and they needed to stay in Dallas for six months to recover. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:37.960 - 00:53:40.680

N.K.: So this guy who – I don't know if all this is interesting – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:40.900 - 00:53:51.080

N.K.: the guy who does the bakery basically had – because the doctor lives full-time in Ethiopia, had his adopted children live with him and stay with him and his children for about two years. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:51.140 - 00:53:54.900

N.K.: Well, they then did high school in Dallas and were recovering in Dallas. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:55.480 - 00:53:59.240

N.K.: So yeah, so that's kind of how they were connected. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:59.240 - 00:54:04.120

N.K.: And then he like told me if I ever wanted to go to Ethiopia and talk to him and work with him, that I should. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:04.720 - 00:54:09.240

N.K.: My senior year of high school I was not thinking about Ethiopia, but I was kind of thinking about it last spring, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:09.540 - 00:54:10.900

N.K.: and was like "What if I just went?" ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:11.900 - 00:54:12.170

N.K.: So I did. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:12.170 - 00:54:12.440

E.B.: Cool. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:13.720 - 00:54:13.920

E.B.: Yeah, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:14.000 - 00:54:20.380

E.B.: and then for the organizations in Israel, was it sort of through family and friends that you got involved with those? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:20.480 - 00:54:28.740

N.K.: So there's a lot of different organizations that work with like global advocacy, but also just like connections to Israel. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:28.740 - 00:54:36.000

N.K.: So specifically the company I worked with is called the Jewish National Fund, started like in the beginning of the 1900s, back when it was like the British Mandate. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:37.520 - 00:54:45.800

N.K.: And yeah, they most of the projects were just focused on like agricultural developments within Israel and people trying to immigrate to Israel that were Jews. At the time ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:45.920 - 00:54:51.500

N.K.: there was a lot of like antisemitism in Europe, and with the Holocaust approaching, kind of in World War II, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:51.760 - 00:54:53.840

N.K.: a lot of people were trying to move to Israel. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:53.960 - 00:54:56.700

N.K.: So that's when the organization kind of came to be. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:56.700 - 00:55:05.860

N.K.: But ultimately its role ever since Israel's establishment was kind of just strengthening Israel, like doing a lot of like – they invest a lot in community growth projects. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:06.160 - 00:55:11.920

N.K.: And since the war, they fund a trip where essentially you fundraise $1,000.00 and they'll cover your flight, your stay, your food for a week. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:13.160 - 00:55:14.140

N.K.: So I did that, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:14.220 - 00:55:15.920

N.K.: and then they basically organized everything that we did. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:16.040 - 00:55:25.280

N.K.: So we met with like survivors of the war, like of October 7th, and then went and took us to all these community projects, like the pepper farm and the hospital. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:25.280 - 00:55:27.340

N.K.: So that's kind of how we did that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:27.560 - 00:55:33.240

N.K.: But in terms of generally when I go to Israel, like the year before, when I went in the summer before the war, I just independently organized that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:33.500 - 00:55:36.220

N.K.: I wanted to go to Jerusalem, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:36.480 - 00:55:37.840

N.K.: I had a couple friends that were staying there, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:38.520 - 00:55:41.220

N.K.: I reached out to this school called Keren ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:41.680 - 00:55:42.440

N.K.: Or, I spoke to the director, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:42.620 - 00:55:43.220

N.K.: she was super nice. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:43.500 - 00:55:44.980

N.K.: I came, I went and volunteered for a month. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:44.980 - 00:55:45.880

N.K.: But yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:46.300 - 00:55:46.720

E.B.: Gotcha. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:47.140 - 00:55:47.340

E.B.: Cool. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:51.220 - 00:55:55.080

E.B.: So I guess this is sort of shifting gears a little bit again. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:56.080 - 00:56:05.700

E.B.: How has your relationship with your family been during your time at Hopkins? Like parents, siblings, etcetera. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:06.460 - 00:56:09.540

N.K.: So I mean it is hard to not like physically be with them in person. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:09.860 - 00:56:12.660

N.K.: It's just not so easy to talk on the phone all the time. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:13.420 - 00:56:15.040

N.K.: Especially my mom can sometimes be a lot. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:15.280 - 00:56:20.220

N.K.: She likes calling a lot. And especially like my freshman year, I talked to them a lot. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:20.960 - 00:56:28.920

N.K.: But in terms of like my relationship, I don't think I'm any more close or distant from them in terms of practically like what our relationship is. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:29.860 - 00:56:35.160

N.K.: Obviously I feel closer to my younger siblings, who are not as good about keeping in touch when I'm there in person. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:36.020 - 00:56:39.640

N.K.: So that's tough, especially because like this is – like they're both 15 and 16, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:39.780 - 00:56:41.660

N.K.: so this is really like a pivotal point in their lives. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:41.660 - 00:56:43.460

N.K.: It's hard not to really be there. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:43.520 - 00:56:51.260

N.K.: But other than that, I wouldn't necessarily say it's something I've thought about in any significant way. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:52.240 - 00:56:52.500

E.B.: Yeah. Have ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:52.700 - 00:56:56.460

E.B.: your siblings come to visit here? Or are ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:57.360 - 00:56:57.410

E.B.: they [unintelligible]? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:57.410 - 00:56:58.460

N.K.: My younger sister has. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:59.200 - 00:57:00.920

N.K.: My brother's never been here. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:01.400 - 00:57:03.500

N.K.: My mom has visited once and my dad has visited once. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:03.660 - 00:57:05.720

N.K.: But like I said before, it's really expensive to fly. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:06.040 - 00:57:09.180

N.K.: But for the first time they'll all be here for my graduation, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:09.660 - 00:57:10.900

N.K.: so I'm really excited about that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:10.900 - 00:57:11.500

E.B.: That's exciting. Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:13.000 - 00:57:13.200

E.B.: Cool. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:15.980 - 00:57:27.560

E.B.: What has your support system been like here? Like kind of either just friends or groups on campus or anything like that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:28.060 - 00:57:28.700

N.K.: It's a good question. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:29.720 - 00:57:39.460

N.K.: I'd say definitely there are a few people who like stand out to me most about kind of getting me through my time at Hopkins, and those are the people I would consider myself the closest to. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:39.460 - 00:57:46.540

N.K.: And in terms of institutionally, like where have I felt very supported, I'd say like through the Jewish Students Association, like through Hillel. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:46.920 - 00:57:48.540

N.K.: I'm very close with the executive director there; ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:48.700 - 00:57:55.180

N.K.: her and I have a really great relationship. And also they just provide in a way that provides I guess a lot of student support. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:55.900 - 00:57:58.320

N.K.: They have free meals every week on Friday nights, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:59.560 - 00:58:01.120

N.K.: they do a lot of holiday programming, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:01.940 - 00:58:06.620

N.K.: they give money for students to start their own initiatives that are related to Judaism. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:06.620 - 00:58:08.540

N.K.: And to me that means a lot. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:08.780 - 00:58:20.260

N.K.: And whenever, especially my freshman year, when I wanted a space where I could just feel accepted and I didn't really need to try to have to be there or deserve to have to be there, it was really great to have. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:20.800 - 00:58:21.300

E.B.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:22.360 - 00:58:46.080

E.B.: Do you feel – I guess it seems like in terms of like the support that you found, like it's not been specifically like support for FLI and first gen, like just, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:46.780 - 00:58:46.830

E.B.: yeah – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:46.830 - 00:58:49.760

N.K.: Oh. So I've taken some advantage of some of the FLI programs. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:50.400 - 00:58:55.820

N.K.: Also like the Life Design Lab is really great in terms of professional development and opportunities. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:56.200 - 00:58:58.680

N.K.: I think they offer a lot of great programs that have been super helpful. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:59.320 - 00:59:02.940

N.K.: Also I'm a member of JUMP, which is underrepresented medical professions. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:03.960 - 00:59:10.040

N.K.: So that also, like they have, I think, a lot of really great resources that have been helpful, which is really nice to kind of have like built in. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:10.360 - 00:59:11.280

N.K.: But I'm not going to lie, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:11.460 - 00:59:14.220

N.K.: I'm not such an e-mail checker and a Zoom attender. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:14.480 - 00:59:19.920

N.K.: So for example, I get a lot of e-mails and a lot of texts about like off-campus housing and financial planning. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:20.040 - 00:59:23.540

N.K.: And I think it's really important that the university offers it, especially for those who want it, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:23.960 - 00:59:27.600

N.K.: but like me specifically, I just, I don't know. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:27.800 - 00:59:28.380

E.B.: Yeah. Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:29.040 - 00:59:31.330

E.B.: I'm going to pause it now, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:31.330 - 00:59:32.100

N.K.: Go for it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:32.100 - 00:59:35.920

E.B.: because I think we're getting about to the hour mark and I don't want us to get cut off. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:36.060 - 00:59:38.500

E.B.: So we're going to take a little break real quick. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:41.220 - 00:59:42.560

E.B.: And we are back. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:44.740 - 01:00:01.300

E.B.: So we hadvsort of started talking about support for first gen/FLI students and some of the stuff that you had sort of taken advantage of. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:02.460 - 01:00:14.000

E.B.: And I think one of the questions too is how can the university, in your opinion, increase support for FLI and first gen students? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:14.440 - 01:00:20.580

N.K.: I think the university has an approach where they like to talk about intellectually helping FLI students. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:20.780 - 01:00:29.760

N.K.: So for example, offering Zoom talks and webinars and like different, what they think is like providing resources or advantages that will help you. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:29.760 - 01:00:36.160

N.K.: But I think what most FLI students struggle with the most in this moment right now is like financial barriers. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:36.420 - 01:00:39.580

N.K.: And I think that the university has taken no steps to really help with that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:40.140 - 01:00:41.940

N.K.: And put financial aid aside, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:42.060 - 01:00:43.820

N.K.: there are a lot of things that financially it does not cover. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:44.020 - 01:00:49.500

N.K.: And a perfect one, for example, many FLI students are not from near here, and they have to fly every time they come. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:50.320 - 01:00:58.120

N.K.: The least that Hopkins could do is coordinate a shuttle that is free that goes from BWI to Hopkins, like around the time of school starting or breaks. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:58.120 - 01:00:59.200

N.K.: But they don't do that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:59.340 - 01:01:05.320

N.K.: And that could save hundreds and hundreds of dollars that people are spending anyways, because most FLI students don't have cars, especially if they don't live here. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:06.060 - 01:01:08.640

N.K.: It's a huge expense that you have to pay every year you're a student here. Let ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:09.060 - 01:01:17.000

N.K.: alone the fact that I think that like – honestly, there could even be subsidies or like grants that you request if you want to go home. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:17.200 - 01:01:24.080

N.K.: I think there are a lot of people that are really emotionally and mentally distressed when they can't go, like if something is happening in their family, because they can't afford to fly. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:24.080 - 01:01:31.280

N.K.: Honestly, maybe it would be nice if Hopkins offered like a subsidy or some sort of grant that you could have to travel home in case of an emergency. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:31.900 - 01:01:33.700

N.K.: I think a lot of people would appreciate that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:34.000 - 01:01:35.780

N.K.: Obviously there are some things that they do that are great. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:35.920 - 01:01:41.900

N.K.: Like, there's a technology grant up to $1,000.00 that I've used personally, and it has been super useful. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:42.360 - 01:01:44.060

N.K.: I definitely needed it coming to Hopkins. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:44.680 - 01:01:53.120

N.K.: But I think that, again, like seminars and Zoom talks are only so good if you're not really fixing the problems that people have in the moment. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:53.120 - 01:01:54.660

N.K.: But I think like they're not terrible; ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:54.840 - 01:01:58.520

N.K.: they do offer travel subsidy in a grant for graduation, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:58.520 - 01:02:01.420

N.K.: like if peoples' families want to come here for graduation and they can't afford it, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:02.140 - 01:02:03.220

N.K.: they offer us – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:03.480 - 01:02:09.380

N.K.: we don't have to pay for our regalia, which is really nice, because that's like a very annoying expense for something that I'm never going to really wear again. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:10.020 - 01:02:21.380

N.K.: So it's not all bad, but I think that there are definitely things that it's like you're here just to help people who are financially disadvantaged, and you're not helping where they're most largely disadvantaged. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:21.380 - 01:02:23.200

N.K.: So just something to think about. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:23.620 - 01:02:24.100

E.B.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:24.100 - 01:02:35.400

E.B.: It's sort of these kind of blind spots maybe, or just needing to maybe like actually hear from people more about what their ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:35.860 - 01:02:36.840

E.B.: needs are, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:36.840 - 01:02:50.740

N.K.: I think also it's like they're such simple fixes in my opinion. Because University of Maryland, for example, has a shuttle that shuttle that goes from BWI to UMD, period. Just year-round, like around those times, around peak times, for students to take to the airport regardless of financial status. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:50.740 - 01:02:57.700

N.K.: So other universities definitely already have existing transportation options like this and different programs to help students in that way. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:57.720 - 01:03:06.360

N.K.: So it's not like a crazy suggestion to say that Hopkins should provide a way for students to get to the airport that doesn't cost $50.00. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:07.120 - 01:03:07.170

E.B.: Yeah. Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:07.170 - 01:03:08.400

N.K.: So just something to think about. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:08.620 - 01:03:08.820

E.B.: Yeah, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:08.920 - 01:03:13.860

E.B.: these things exist. And yeah, maybe learning from what other places do, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:14.300 - 01:03:15.920

E.B.: yeah, for sure. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:19.160 - 01:03:26.840

E.B.: So has the political climate or have any social movements impacted your experience here at Hopkins? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:29.220 - 01:03:30.500

N.K.: Specifically as a FLI student or as me? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:30.680 - 01:03:31.380

E.B.: I think just generally, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:32.060 - 01:03:33.360

E.B.: yeah, just a general question. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:33.800 - 01:03:38.200

N.K.: I'm not so strongly politically active when it comes to like American politics. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:38.260 - 01:03:40.640

N.K.: And I think Hopkins in general is a pretty apolitical campus. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:40.640 - 01:03:53.580

N.K.: I don't think that really because it's such a strong STEM-oriented school, there are large movements that are typically like bolstered by humanities students that take up a significant presence on campus. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:53.980 - 01:04:07.640

N.K.: I will say the only time that like political movements have affected me are basically post the October 7th War. A lot of anti-Israel rhetoric on this campus, to me does not feel like a conducive debate. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:07.640 - 01:04:09.880

N.K.: It's not an exchange of ideas. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:11.540 - 01:04:18.420

N.K.: And I think people believe that propaganda doesn't exist in America, or like propaganda – like you would you would know propaganda if you saw it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:18.420 - 01:04:21.140

N.K.: But like I have seen flyers on campus, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:21.280 - 01:04:28.780

N.K.: I've seen people talking on campus, and demonstrations on this campus that very much discriminate against me for my ethnicity. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:29.020 - 01:04:31.540

N.K.: Like they think Israelis should die, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:31.880 - 01:04:33.060

N.K.: they call for the death of Israelis. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:33.060 - 01:04:46.880

N.K.: And I think if it was any other ethnicity, like if somebody got on the Beach in front of a group of 200 students and said, "All Chinese people should die. All Greek people should die," ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:47.400 - 01:05:00.940

N.K.: to me is like a really crazy thing that I think would never fly and has somehow become justified. And is not, people believe in protecting freedom of speech, which is like a whole separate topic that we can get into. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:00.940 - 01:05:21.260

N.K.: But really the only time that I've ever felt emotionally distraught by it is like just disappointment in what a university, which is supposed to be an exchange of ideas and thoughtful debates and understanding different perspectives, and especially a movement that advocates itself – like the Anti-Israel Movement advocates itself as a movement towards peace, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:21.260 - 01:05:28.620

N.K.: but peace requires dialogue and peace requires wanting both sides to be happy and healthy and safe. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:29.060 - 01:05:32.580

N.K.: And that is not the vibe that I've gotten from the movement on campus. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:32.880 - 01:05:34.580

N.K.: So I would say that is my biggest issue. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:34.760 - 01:05:36.980

N.K.: But other than that, I don't feel particularly affected by politics on campus. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:36.980 - 01:05:39.200

E.B.: Gotcha. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:39.760 - 01:05:49.040

E.B.: If you could kind of create that dialogue, what would that look like in – yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:49.460 - 01:05:49.510

E.B.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:49.510 - 01:05:55.080

N.K.: The biggest problem is people don't want it. Like the university can't impose something on students that students don't want. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:55.580 - 01:06:09.180

N.K.: And I think if it came from an institutional place of like, oh, if the solution should just be like no dialogue, let's just shut down the negative speech, then it's silencing and then it's they're oppressing the truth, or they're oppressing the desires of the people. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:09.180 - 01:06:12.360

N.K.: And I don't necessarily think that that's like a good way to deal with it, either. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:13.000 - 01:06:19.940

N.K.: So I think it's really tough. I think if there was an easy answer, I think if there was something the university could do, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:20.580 - 01:06:35.940

N.K.: I just think, I don't know if you ever heard of like a democracy is like a paradox of the tolerance of intolerance. Like if you as a society tolerate those, even those that are intolerant, like that intolerance ultimately destroys the democracy, destroys the values of democracy. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:35.940 - 01:06:45.580

N.K.: So from the institution's perspective, they want to bolster free speech, and they don't want to be a place that controls what people believe. Fine. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:45.620 - 01:06:58.200

N.K.: But then you allow people to then spew ideas that are somewhat, like can be based in hatred, or like not necessarily aligned with certain values. And there's not really a way to prevent that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:58.200 - 01:07:04.780

N.K.: if you have the prior belief of like all speech is okay and everyone should be able to speak what they believe in. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:04.780 - 01:07:19.460

E.B.: Thinking – and you've sort of talked a bit about this already, about sort of your relationship with Baltimore and your experience of Baltimore. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:21.060 - 01:07:26.020

E.B.: But do you have any other kind of reflections on your relationship with the city? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:26.020 - 01:07:31.960

N.K.: Well, it's definitely improved. I love it and I have a much deeper appreciation for it now than I did as a freshman. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:33.160 - 01:07:52.040

N.K.: I don't know if that's just like spending more time here and getting more used to it, or just like discovering all these – Baltimore is a smaller city than Dallas, and I think the big areas of town, everybody knows about them. And like discovering all these small spots and spots for like natives, and also taking advantage of the location of Baltimore, like being an hour away from DC, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:52.040 - 01:07:57.400

N.K.: and an hour away from Philly, and two and a half hours and a train ride from New York, has been really cool and very unique. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:57.900 - 01:08:09.980

N.K.: I think if I – like I said, Dallas is super isolated from a lot of other urban areas, so being within like public transportation distance from all these places has allowed me to explore kind of the whole coast, which is really nice. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:11.380 - 01:08:15.140

N.K.: Yeah, and nothing else comes to mind at the moment. But it has grown on me. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:18.140 - 01:08:20.200

E.B.: Kind of, again, shifting gears. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:22.300 - 01:08:37.120

E.B.: Would you like to share your plans for the future, kind of life after Hopkins? And actually, I guess too, I'd be curious to know sort of what led to your decision or like how you came to graduate early. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:37.120 - 01:08:50.280

N.K.: Sure. So in terms of my next immediate decision of what I'm doing, I have to study for the MCAT, and then I'm going to take two gap years. So one to work and then apply in May, and then there needs to be another year for the application to go through. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:50.940 - 01:08:58.880

N.K.: And because I haven't taken the MCAT, I can't apply in this upcoming cycle. Plus, I just don't think I'm so ready. I'd like to maybe like buff up my application a little bit more. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:58.880 - 01:09:09.140

N.K.: So basically this summer, studying for the MCAT, take it in September, and then start a job in October. I want to work for about 12 to 16 months. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:09.820 - 01:09:17.440

N.K.: And then while my application’s like already submitted and I'm really just waiting on interviews, I want to travel with the money that I've made from working for about six months. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:18.600 - 01:09:26.680

N.K.: Honestly, I want to see the entire world, so it's very hard to pick, but I really want to go to like Southeast Asia, parts of South America would be really fun, and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:26.680 - 01:09:29.480

N.K.: I've never been to Europe. So there's a lot of places I want to see. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:30.660 - 01:09:32.790

N.K.: And then I'm going to – I will be going to medical school and kicking ass. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:32.790 - 01:09:34.920

E.B.: [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:36.260 - 01:09:40.880

N.K.: And I don't know what's going to happen from there, but I know that for sure will happen. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:42.800 - 01:09:53.160

N.K.: And why am I graduating in three years? Two reasons. One, because my dad doesn't really have like proper experience with the education system, let alone in America, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:53.640 - 01:10:00.720

N.K.: he didn't really realize what the cost of college would be, and he only really started saving about when I was in eighth grade. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:01.100 - 01:10:10.240

N.K.: So he saved around like $30,000.00. But with the financial aid package that Hopkins gave, it was basically, okay, instead of paying $80,000.00, you'll pay $30,000.00 a year. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:10.840 - 01:10:13.660

N.K.: So my dad basically finished all the college savings money in a year. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:16.140 - 01:10:25.720

N.K.: And because both of my younger siblings are at this Jewish private school, which normally costs $30,000.00 a year. And even on a financial aid, you're still paying a certain amount of money to go, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:25.980 - 01:10:30.920

N.K.: in addition to your regular taxes. You still have to pay tax for like public school, for example, even if you don't go. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:32.500 - 01:10:39.460

N.K.: It's hard to have siblings and pay for a house and pay for school and pay for all these things, and life insurance, and it costs a lot of money. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:39.460 - 01:10:46.680

N.K.: And my dad just doesn't have $30,000.00 for every year to keep sending me here. So starting sophomore year, I took out some loans, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:47.020 - 01:10:56.460

N.K.: he took out some loans. And honestly, like I saw that it was possible to graduate early, and I tried talking to Hopkins and trying to like renegotiate on the financial aid package, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:56.720 - 01:11:02.220

N.K.: but ultimately what they're too nice to tell me, but what is the truth, is that Hopkins does meet all need. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:02.840 - 01:11:13.240

N.K.: So it's not that I really, really can't afford it; it's that my dad is not willing to sell certain things or to give up certain parts of his lifestyle, or to not send my siblings to Jewish private school, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:13.780 - 01:11:19.360

N.K.: and by not giving up any of those things, which could then pay for my college, we're in the situation that we're in now. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:19.880 - 01:11:29.260

N.K.: And that's fine. I don't think he should drop the things that he cares about or the way or the way that he lives his life, or like what he believes is best for my siblings, just so he can send me to college. My life is not more important than theirs. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:29.260 - 01:11:38.300

N.K.: But the same time, with that, I recognize if I can graduate a year early, and that's one less year of tuition, one less year of loans, then I absolutely should. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:39.180 - 01:11:43.700

N.K.: And when I say tuition, I mean, the $30,000.00 covers tuition and living expenses. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:43.700 - 01:11:47.380

N.K.: So it's actually like only around $10 K in tuition, which is not much. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:48.420 - 01:11:52.740

N.K.: But yeah, I want to start my life clean. I'm going to get more debt in medical school, so ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:52.740 - 01:11:55.340

N.K.: I'd like to pay off the debt that I also have now, like from college. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:56.820 - 01:12:03.580

N.K.: And honestly, I know this is not what you want to hear, but I don't think Hopkins was exactly the college experience I wanted. Socially ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:04.120 - 01:12:07.780

N.K.: I think Hopkins attracts a very specific crowd. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:08.160 - 01:12:13.920

N.K.: There aren't a lot of social opportunities on this campus, and I think Hopkins is making a terrible effort to shut it down even more so. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:14.400 - 01:12:16.680

N.K.: The very little existing Greek life that exists here, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:17.540 - 01:12:22.580

N.K.: they bought out the football house, they bought out like the fraternity, Phi Psi, like they have a house on North Charles. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:22.580 - 01:12:31.780

N.K.: They bought both of them. They bought it for over 400-percent over market price, just to own and have control over the land. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:32.580 - 01:12:37.760

N.K.: And by doing so, like taking away what are like two massive components of student experience. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:38.000 - 01:12:46.120

N.K.: So already not having a big Greek life, fine, but there isn't really a lot of social things we can do with the weather kind of being super cold all year. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:46.300 - 01:12:48.920

N.K.: There's not a lot of outdoor activities you can do in the area. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:49.560 - 01:12:57.140

N.K.: And I think also just like I haven't necessarily, I think, like found my people here. As much as there are people here and there that I've deeply connected to, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:58.380 - 01:13:03.320

N.K.: I think also there have been some semesters here where I've been so academically overwhelmed I don't have time to do anything. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:03.860 - 01:13:14.000

N.K.: And I think if I was able to finish in three years, I have now this extra year that I can go travel the world, and I can make this money, and I can do things that I've dreamed about doing my whole life. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:14.580 - 01:13:21.940

N.K.: And I want to do them. And I don't think Hopkins necessarily incentivizes me enough to stay for a fourth year just for the experience, if ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:22.160 - 01:13:22.870

N.K.: that makes sense. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:22.870 - 01:13:23.070

E.B.: Yeah, totally. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:24.600 - 01:13:33.060

E.B.: So you're going to work for where? Do you have that sort of lined up already or do you have something in mind at all? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:33.340 - 01:13:33.390

E.B.: Or just sort of – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:33.390 - 01:13:39.360

N.K.: No. So I've tried applying to a couple things. I made it to a couple of like final round interviews, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:39.360 - 01:13:47.760

N.K.: but ultimately a lot of these places actually are – unless they're certain specific companies that hire – like really big companies that hire over a year out, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:48.000 - 01:13:55.260

N.K.: most, if they have job postings now, are hiring within the next few months. And I don't want to work until October, and it's March. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:55.680 - 01:14:05.340

N.K.: So looking seven months out hasn't been so conducive, especially because a lot of stuff I was looking for was research, which is now all – a lot of it has a hiring freeze, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:05.340 - 01:14:11.060

N.K.: so it's not the best time to look. So I think I'll probably pick up the search again, end of June/beginning of July. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:11.420 - 01:14:17.120

N.K.: And that will probably be more accurate in aligning my timeline with theirs, like with the different companies and looking. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:17.700 - 01:14:22.560

N.K.: But I mean, finding a job is hard. I have a lot of friends that are graduating this semester, and they're having a really hard time finding a job. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:23.540 - 01:14:29.740

N.K.: But no, I don't have a specific job lined up. I just know that I don't care if this job is not like my heart's desire. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:29.740 - 01:14:33.780

N.K.: I know what is – like I'm going to medical school, that's going to lead to my ultimate career. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:34.440 - 01:14:39.860

N.K.: So even if I worked a job that makes a lot of money, but I don't love, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:40.100 - 01:14:44.260

N.K.: it's only for a year, and it lets me go travel, and it lets me pay off my debt. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:44.720 - 01:14:49.080

N.K.: And so that's why I'm not too concerned about the job, as long as I can find one. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:49.380 - 01:14:49.980

E.B.: Yeah. But ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:50.140 - 01:14:52.800

E.B.: you're applying to sort of like research, kind of biomedically kind of stuff? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:52.800 - 01:14:53.350

N.K.: A lot of healthcare stuff, a lot of tech. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:53.350 - 01:14:54.960

E.B.: Gotcha. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:55.580 - 01:15:08.320

N.K.: I'm kind of interested in like more – like less so research now, because of what's happening, and more like project management, for example, where like you control a lot of – oversee a lot of ongoing projects and manage people. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:08.780 - 01:15:10.180

N.K.: That's one job I'm considering. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:11.180 - 01:15:15.860

N.K.: I have like some experience as like my one semester as a computer science major, with coding. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:15.860 - 01:15:24.380

N.K.: So I'm also interested in biotech, and I think I could do well in positions that don't require me to be a full software engineer, but to have an understanding of technology and of coding. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:24.380 - 01:15:26.300

N.K.: So that's on the table. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:26.620 - 01:15:27.920

N.K.: Nothing's really off the table. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:28.160 - 01:15:29.100

N.K.: I'm looking at like everything. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:30.360 - 01:15:30.760

E.B.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:33.300 - 01:15:35.000

E.B.: Where are you thinking of applying to med school? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:36.380 - 01:15:37.660

E.B.: What's sort of the dream? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:38.260 - 01:15:39.620

N.K.: So the dream would be NYU. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:40.420 - 01:15:40.940

N.K.: It's free; ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:41.300 - 01:15:44.440

N.K.: it's in New York, which is a bustling city filled with tons of young people. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:45.860 - 01:15:51.180

N.K.: And like I'm mostly applying to schools, like I really want to go in New York City, but if I don't get in, I want to be somewhere warm. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:51.860 - 01:15:56.960

N.K.: And I need to be – because of my religious observance, I need to be in a place that has a large Jewish community. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:57.180 - 01:16:00.020

N.K.: So that kind of just limits me to big urban areas. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:00.840 - 01:16:03.840

N.K.: I can't really go into a medical school that's in the middle of nowhere. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:04.040 - 01:16:15.540

N.K.: Like there won't be a community of people to do a lot of like religious holidays and different things with. And also from a practical perspective of accessing food and different things that I would need, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:15.540 - 01:16:18.340

N.K.: it would be really hard to do in like more remote places. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:18.700 - 01:16:19.640

N.K.: So it limits it, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:19.660 - 01:16:23.960

N.K.: but at the same time, like the schools that are in urban places are the hardest to get into. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:24.140 - 01:16:27.190

N.K.: So I hope, God willing, I will get into a school that will take me and that I want to be at. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:27.190 - 01:16:30.240

E.B.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:32.240 - 01:16:34.880

E.B.: And then in terms of where you're thinking about traveling, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:35.880 - 01:16:37.680

E.B.: what's your ideal – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:40.000 - 01:16:42.420

E.B.: what are you most excited about in terms of where you want to go travel? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:42.420 - 01:16:42.470

N.K.: Thailand. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:42.470 - 01:16:43.020

E.B.: Thailand. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:43.620 - 01:16:43.980

E.B.: Ooh, cool. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:43.980 - 01:16:45.540

N.K.: It has such cool nature. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:46.640 - 01:16:51.480

N.K.: I want to do that whole area, like Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, maybe Australia, Bali. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:51.840 - 01:16:56.940

N.K.: I think it's so beautiful and it's so – I was actually just talking to somebody about this, like Europe is great and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:56.960 - 01:16:57.960

N.K.: I really want to go, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:58.820 - 01:17:05.520

N.K.: but I kind of like have a whole lifetime to do that, and it's something you can enjoy a lot as an adult as well, not just like somebody who's just finished college. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:05.700 - 01:17:11.660

N.K.: But I think the whole like backpacking style, it's like so culturally different, whereas Europe is somewhat culturally different, but not significantly. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:11.660 - 01:17:16.340

N.K.: It has the nature, and South America has the nature, but it's not as safe as like a female traveler. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:17.220 - 01:17:18.670

N.K.: So I think Southeast Asia kind of takes the win of all the things I want. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:18.670 - 01:17:20.120

E.B.: Cool. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:24.780 - 01:17:34.640

E.B.: After the years that you've spent here, how would you summarize your time at Hopkins? And that can be sort of a tricky ask to sort of condense it, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:35.060 - 01:17:35.110

E.B.: but. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:35.110 - 01:17:36.500

N.K.: Definitely life changing. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:36.500 - 01:17:50.840

N.K.: I think it will always be a period of my life that has influenced the way I look at the world. That has taught me so much about myself, what I like, what I don't like, what I need, what I don't, what I'm capable of. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:51.360 - 01:17:57.340

N.K.: It will always be, I think, a significant stepping stone, and to my younger self it was a massive achievement. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:57.800 - 01:18:01.760

N.K.: And I hope it will open doors for me in the future. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:01.760 - 01:18:05.420

N.K.: There is no other word than life-changing [ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:07.680 - 01:18:07.730

N.K.: unintelligible]. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:07.730 - 01:18:16.380

E.B.: Yeah. Would you overall recommend Hopkins to other first gen students? And is there any advice you would give them? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:17.300 - 01:18:18.840

N.K.: I wouldn't blindly recommend it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:19.100 - 01:18:22.980

N.K.: I really believe in not just like – not every school is for every person, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:23.420 - 01:18:28.760

N.K.: and I think if somebody wants a smaller university, they don't care about weather. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:29.360 - 01:18:38.280

N.K.: But in terms of like FLI-specific programming and what this university can offer to people that are from the same background as I am, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:38.860 - 01:18:47.500

N.K.: I think absolutely, like even if it's not the best four years of your life, like one, it's not going to be miserable. Like it's not a terrible, terrible prison cell. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:48.000 - 01:18:56.300

N.K.: But it will offer you – like it will change your life. This experience puts you in a place that, and gives you the resources and opportunities to do things you would never otherwise have access to. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:57.920 - 01:19:06.700

N.K.: And now financial barriers aren't really in the way, like they take care of the cost of tuition. Really it is the key to starting, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:07.180 - 01:19:14.420

N.K.: I think, what is a successful life in America for a lot of people that come from a background that don't have access to what people at Hopkins have access to. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:14.700 - 01:19:21.980

N.K.: So absolutely, I think I would recommend it, but I also, like depending on the person's personal preferences, like cater to that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:21.980 - 01:19:32.080

E.B.: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, I think there's not a one-size-fits-all school or, you know, everybody's different and everybody has different needs, for sure. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:32.580 - 01:19:49.380

E.B.: Cool. Well, that is all the questions that I have. So thank you so much for – I really appreciate you taking the time and sharing all of this with us. Is there anything else you'd like to add before the interview is over? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:49.900 - 01:19:51.280

N.K.: Thanks for having me. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:51.280 - 01:19:52.540

E.B.: Great. Thank you so much. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠